with the end In the wake of the US government shutdown, federal agencies are still in disarray. Environmental Protection Agency workers told WIRED that they have faced increasing chaos over the past five weeks.
In recent weeks, various stages of furlough have forced employees to go home randomly. The few staff remaining at the agency are working on policies favorable to fossil fuels and industrial interests that are priorities for the administration, even as the rest of the government is shut down.
Others were forced to sit on their hands as the shutdown caused coworkers to be laid off without notice — and the remaining employees had little or no idea what was going to happen next.
An EPA worker tells WIRED, “When we send someone an email and get an out of office message, we know who’s been furloughed, or we focus on names in Teams for people who are indicating they’re out of office.” (This worker and others in this story agreed to remain anonymous because they are not permitted to speak to the press.)
Some of the staff being laid off are tasked with revising pollution rules, a key regulatory goal of the administration. An employee at the Office of Air and Radiation confirmed to WIRED that her team, which is working on the rule amendment in that office, was still being called into work, while others in the office — including support staff such as administrative assistants and operations workers — were sent home the week of October 20.
“Employees who work in the regulatory portion of the Hawaii office are still working,” the employee tells WIRED. “Lots of furloughs elsewhere. But we’re still working on deregulation actions.” The New York Times reported in mid-October that other staffers working to repeal regulations favorable to oil, gas and coal interests were also being told to “move on.”
WIRED has learned that about 4,400 employees were furloughed from the agency by the end of October. According to EPA’s shutdown plan, which was last updated in September, the agency had laid off more than 15,000 people as of Oct. 1. In the plan, the agency lists only 1,734 employees it is expected to retain in the event of a complete shutdown. These employees will work on “critical agency activities”, including protection of Superfund activities, disaster assistance, criminal investigations, and research, which may be continued later.
After Sunday’s vote in the Senate, the government shutdown could end as early as this week.
OMB Director Russell Vought, who is the public face of the government shutdown, has attempted to use it as a way to further reduce the size of the federal workforce. But more than a month after the shutdown, most EPA employees have escaped high-profile force cuts and mass furloughs that have rippled through other agencies. Many employees are still showing up to do their jobs as the agency tries to continue business as usual. Meanwhile, EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin has squarely blamed Democrats.